


An Adjourning Heart

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Aftermath, Backstory, Be Careful What You Wish For, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Fifteen Minute Fic, Gen, Pre-Movie(s), Wakes & Funerals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-20
Updated: 2011-11-20
Packaged: 2018-01-20 23:13:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1529285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When she was still in her right mind, Mal once spent a week pondering funerals.  In the end, only Arthur was left to carry out her wishes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Adjourning Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by the 11/19/11 [15_minute_fic](http://15_minute_fic.livejournal.com) word #207. The title is a random line from Emily Dickinson, just because.

When she was still in her right mind, Mal once spent a week pondering funerals. "Not so much for me, you understand," she told Dom and Arthur as they helped her clean up after a late dinner, "since I will of course be dead and beyond caring, but for those left behind. It is best to have plans laid out in advance, so no one will do foolish or unaesthetic things in the jaws of grief."

"Like follow you," Arthur said wryly, nudging Dom with his elbow.

Dom hastily rearranged his expression into something supportive and idly curious. "I hope you don't want anything too outlandish," he managed after a moment. "There are cost constraints and legal issues to consider in the real world."

"So no air burial," Mal said, a bit wistfully. "A pity. There is something very elegant about it -- the dead meat of the body carved up as any other dead animal, and fed to wild birds until only clean bones remain." She stuck the last of the knives into the butcher's block.

Dom's face slid back toward fascinated horror.

"If you want elegance and finality, I would go with cremation," Arthur said. "Very simple, very tidy, very legal. And you can get as artistic as you want with the disposal of the ashes."

"Oh, plant them in the garden, scatter them on the sea, hide them in a marble jar in a vault for a thousand years…" Mal twirled, arms stretched above her head, her lavender skirt rising like a bell. "Or the traditional way, and bury them in a grave in mimicry of a casket as if I believed in bodily resurrection. Which I do not," she added, smiling over her shoulder at Dom. "I already have all the immortality I need. My name is linked to great developments in dreamshare, my genes will continue in Philippa and any other children we may have, and my memory will whisper down the ages in the minds of those who love me and live on after I am gone."

"You'll have to count me out of that last one," Dom said, stepping forward to clasp her hands and pull them down to his shoulders. "Anything that gets you is going to have to go through me first."

Mal leaned in to whisper something in his ear. Arthur tactfully left the kitchen, their mingled laughter fading behind him like a half-remembered dream as he climbed the stairs to check on his goddaughter.

Two years later, he sat at the breakfast table with a box of ashes in front of him and the printout of an incoherent email from Dom that tried and failed to explain why he'd left the country and why Arthur shouldn't look for him.

"You stupid, stupid, idiot," Arthur muttered. "Why did you run? What the hell happened to the two of you? How am I supposed to fix this?"

Then he picked up the box of ashes. Dom should have been here to help, but Arthur would do his best to carry out Mal's instructions. He would sort through her papers and deliver them to the people who could best make use of her research and honor her name. He would stay in California to watch her children until he was sure they would be safe and well-treated until he hunted down her husband and hauled Dom home.

And he would keep her memory loved.


End file.
